Is Obama Another Dukakis?
September 23, 2008 4:05 PM Subscribe
Why is Obama so vapid, hesitant, and gutless? By Christopher Hitchens.
Last week really ought to have been the end of the McCain campaign. With the whole country feeling (and its financial class acting) as if we lived in a sweltering, bankrupt banana republic, and with this misery added to the generally Belarusian atmosphere that surrounds any American trying to board a train, catch a plane, fill a prescription, or get a public servant or private practitioner on the phone, it was surely the moment for the supposedly reform candidate to assume a commanding position. And the Republican nominee virtually volunteered to assist that outcome by making an idiot of himself several times over, moving from bovine and Panglossian serenity about the state of the many, many crippled markets to sudden bursts of pointless hyperactivity such as the irrelevant demand to sack the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
And yet, and unless I am about to miss some delayed "groundswell" or mood shift, none of this has translated into any measurable advantage for the Democrat.
Last week really ought to have been the end of the McCain campaign. With the whole country feeling (and its financial class acting) as if we lived in a sweltering, bankrupt banana republic, and with this misery added to the generally Belarusian atmosphere that surrounds any American trying to board a train, catch a plane, fill a prescription, or get a public servant or private practitioner on the phone, it was surely the moment for the supposedly reform candidate to assume a commanding position. And the Republican nominee virtually volunteered to assist that outcome by making an idiot of himself several times over, moving from bovine and Panglossian serenity about the state of the many, many crippled markets to sudden bursts of pointless hyperactivity such as the irrelevant demand to sack the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
And yet, and unless I am about to miss some delayed "groundswell" or mood shift, none of this has translated into any measurable advantage for the Democrat.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Oh for god's sake, let's not do one linkers to Hitch columns unless there's a damned good reason? -- cortex
And yet, and unless I am about to miss some delayed "groundswell" or mood shift
Not "about to", already have
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:10 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
Not "about to", already have
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:10 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
bovine and Panglossian serenity
Hitchens is an arrogant sot who can never admit when he's wrong, but damn the man can turn a phrase.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:11 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
Hitchens is an arrogant sot who can never admit when he's wrong, but damn the man can turn a phrase.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:11 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
Why is Christopher Hitchens so vindictive, hateful, and glib?
posted by Your Disapproving Father at 4:11 PM on September 23, 2008
posted by Your Disapproving Father at 4:11 PM on September 23, 2008
Why do descriptors so often come in threes? Is it an Indo-European thing? A western thing? A universal thing? Does anyone know?
posted by small_ruminant at 4:12 PM on September 23, 2008
posted by small_ruminant at 4:12 PM on September 23, 2008
Was hasn't Christopher Hitchens returned my phone calls about paternity tests?
posted by mrzarquon at 4:14 PM on September 23, 2008
posted by mrzarquon at 4:14 PM on September 23, 2008
troy: That's so they don't smash into each other when you walk.
posted by leviathan3k at 4:14 PM on September 23, 2008
posted by leviathan3k at 4:14 PM on September 23, 2008
I keep saying it is a battle between two middle-management types -- the greenhorn who just knows how to talk a good talk and the older guy who you would have expected to have been promoted to a much higher position years ago.
Already looking forward to the 2012 contest between Sarah Palin and Tiny Fey...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 4:15 PM on September 23, 2008
Already looking forward to the 2012 contest between Sarah Palin and Tiny Fey...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 4:15 PM on September 23, 2008
I meant "Tina Fey." Oh, those typos!
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 4:15 PM on September 23, 2008
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 4:15 PM on September 23, 2008
This is not a fantastic post. But the idea does have merit. McCain should have lost, and instead through Obama's relative silence the GOP candidate has been given a chance to reinvent himself.
Why did I hear McCain railing against the bailout yesterday on NPR and not Obama?
posted by infinitewindow at 4:16 PM on September 23, 2008
Why did I hear McCain railing against the bailout yesterday on NPR and not Obama?
posted by infinitewindow at 4:16 PM on September 23, 2008
does he risk going into political history as a dusky Dukakis?
I guess the spell checker flagged "darky".
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 4:17 PM on September 23, 2008
I guess the spell checker flagged "darky".
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 4:17 PM on September 23, 2008
Does anyone read Hitchens that doesn't either reflexively agree with or disagree with him?
The world does as it will, and Hitchens matters not at all. Neither before the fact, nor after.
posted by psmealey at 4:17 PM on September 23, 2008
The world does as it will, and Hitchens matters not at all. Neither before the fact, nor after.
posted by psmealey at 4:17 PM on September 23, 2008
Last week really ought to have been the end of the McCain campaign.
Boy, he's really got a point. Why hasn't Obama invented a time machine, crammed the entire country in it somehow, set the dial for November 15th or so and then run Bush out of town on a rail? I could never vote for someone with so little initiative.
posted by DU at 4:17 PM on September 23, 2008
Boy, he's really got a point. Why hasn't Obama invented a time machine, crammed the entire country in it somehow, set the dial for November 15th or so and then run Bush out of town on a rail? I could never vote for someone with so little initiative.
posted by DU at 4:17 PM on September 23, 2008
The alternative
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:18 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:18 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
posted by ColdChef at 4:18 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by ColdChef at 4:18 PM on September 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
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When did Obama stop beating his wife?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 4:07 PM on September 23, 2008